The science and higher education trade union on Tuesday objected to the government's decision not to pay judicial employees for the days spent on strike, saying that regardless of the strike's outcome, the government will no longer be able to ignore the issue of salaries in the judiciary.

The government’s decision is a step backwards in collective bargaining and another confirmation of “the disastrous wage policy” in Croatia, the union said.

The question is whether the judiciary would have come into focus without the strike when compared with healthcare, education and other large systems, it added.

The government has decided to break the strike by not paying the strikers’ salaries after failing to do so in court, which additionally devalues the position of those people, the union said.

The judicial employees’ demands are not unrealistic but a consequence of being ignored by the government for years and the grave livelihood crisis they have found themselves in due to inflation, it added.

The wage policy in Croatia boils down to the government calculating how to save on its employees as much as possible, which results in wage discrepancies, the union said, adding that instead of strengthening collective bargaining, the government resorted to unconstitutionally meeting partial demands.

Instead of punishing people barely making ends meet, it would be more appropriate if the government stopped paying its members until it regulates the wage system in a just way, the union said.